NEW YORK CITY — Seventeen current and former employees here filed a federal lawsuit against Hi-Tek Car Wash alleging that they did not receive overtime or minimum wage pay, the New York Daily News reported.
The June 27 story stated that the lawsuit claims they earned less than minimum wage with tips factored in. Also, the employees said that they worked more than 40 hours a week without getting overtime, and managers often withheld tips to pay for damage to vehicles.
One former employee, Aaron Morales Romero, 23, said he worked at Hi-Tek for five years, but he eventually quit because he only earned about $5.25 an hour with few tips. “The work is good, but what isn’t good is the salary and the mistreatment,” Morales said in the story. “Sometimes they would call us on our days off, and not give us overtime … the way my co-workers are still working is a disaster.”
A Hi-Tek manager, Gary Pinkus, said in the story that the claims made about improper payment were untrue. He stated that the WASH New York campaign was “brainwashing” the immigrant employees.
This lawsuit follows a similar suit at a different carwash in the Bronx. The suits are the latest part of the WASH New York campaign that is run by non-profit agencies and backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
